Pakistan Seeks India's help in Renewable Energy Sector

According to GoI's press release, a Pakistani delegation led by Mr. Zafar Mahmood, Secretary, Ministry of Water and Power, Government of Pakistan met The Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Shri Gireesh Pradhan and discussed about renewable energy scenario in India and how Pakistan can benefit from India in this sector.

According to a report "Whoâ€™s Winning the Clean Energy Race?" published by the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2010, India ranked 10th in renewable energy sector due to consistent five-year growth rates for renewable energy capacity and India ranks 7th worldwide in the amount of installed capacity. India has 16.2 GigaWatts of installed renewable energy capacity comprising small-hydro, wind, biomass and waste. Pakistan is interested to seek this expertise to be applied back home to alleviate the power problems and load-shedding faced by Pakistan.

During the bilateral talks, Shri Pradhan presented to the delegation a detailed overview of Indiaâ€™s journey in the development and application of renewable energy. The achievement of India in installation of over 25000 MW of grid connected Renewable Energy was lauded by the visiting delegation. The focus of the presentation was on solar, wind, biomass and small hydro sectors.

The Pakistan side expressed interest in the development of Renewable Energy Policy over the last three decades and its implementation in India. They were informed about the provisions in the Indian Electricity Act 2003 and Tariff Policy with reference to Renewable Purchase Obligation for Renewable Energy . It was also emphasised that renewable purchase obligation makes it mandatory for all the power distribution companies to purchase a minimum percentage of power generated through renewables and such a provision is an extremely effective instrument for promoting the use of renewable energy. The visiting delegation was also informed about fiscal and financial incentives given by Government of India to promote the renewable provision in energy sector.

Mr Zafar Mahmood said that renewable energy is a relatively new area in Pakistan. He said that this interaction has been extremely useful and provided him and his colleagues an opportunity to learn from Indian experience in the field of renewable energy. .

If we don't help them, China will (they are one of the leaders in this sector) , better we take their money rather they getting it from China( may be on getting on soft loan). This means our service will be not cheaper be and we can controls spares, maintenance etc. and support our local industries.

We should think rationally and do business rather than being blind nationalists.